CLINTON EXPANDS ANTI-DRUG AD PLAN

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Clinton administration has expanded its anti-drug
advertising campaign into 11 languages beyond English - including Chinese,
Vietnamese, Korean, Navajo, Cherokee and Aleutian dialect.

"If you're a teen-ager or parent," President Clinton said Monday, "it is
nearly impossible to avoid seeing or hearing our anti-drug messages on
television or radio several times a week." He spoke at a ceremony
previewing new ads urging young people to reject drug use.

Begun in 1997, the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign has grown from a
12-city pilot program to a national effort that claims to reach 90 percent
of young people four to seven times a week. It uses television, radio, the
Internet, newspapers, magazines and bus and movie ads to target young
people, parents, teachers, mentors, coaches and others.

"We're trying to be where the young people are," said Barry McCaffrey,
director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

"We expected the ads would greatly increase awareness," Clinton said. "What
we didn't expect was that the ads would already have a measurable effect on
attitudes. This is a very good sign. What it proves is, I suppose, what we
should have known all along, that if advertising works in commerce and
advertising works in politics, advertising ought to work on this issue as
well."

In addition to English, ads are produced in Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese,
Korean, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Lakota, Navajo, Cherokee and
Aleutian dialect.

On Capitol Hill, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., said the campaign was
"well-intentioned but incomplete. How can an ad campaign succeed when it
ignores underage drinking, the number one drug problem among teens? Alcohol
kills six times more young people in this country than all illegal drugs
combined."

McCaffrey, at a White House briefing, said there is not enough money in the
$195 million allocated each year for anti-drug ads to finance anti-alcohol
ads as well. "If we want to go after underage alcohol abuse with a paid
campaign, then we need to pay for it. ... We're right on the margin right
now with the amount of money we're using."